Empire Wrecking awarded Partridge Street Project demolition contract

Empire Wrecking. Co. of Reading has been awarded a contract to demolish these homes in the 300 block of North Partridge Street seen in this looking north from the Norfolk Southern Railroad tracks in this photo taken October 2013. Once cleared, the 3.5-acres site will be prepared for commercial development (FILE)

A Reading firm has been awarded the contract to demolish three dozen vacant Lebanon homes as part of a revitalization project related to construction of the Norfolk Southern Railroad overpasses.

Empire Wrecking Co. will be paid $394,845 to demolish the homes acquired by the city in the 300 block of North Partridge Street, which is located between the dual bridges on North Ninth and North 10th streets. When finished the 3.5-acre lot will be prepared for commercial development and sold.

Empire was not the lowest bidder for the job, Mayor Sherry Capello told City Council Tuesday night. Patriot Construction came in with a bid of $382,000, but it was disqualified from consideration because the company does not have the three years of demolition experience that the city required.

Empire is familiar to the city, having demolished dozens of other homes for the bridge project, including the Sowers Printing building. Work on the North Partridge Street block will begin in the next couple of weeks, said Public Works Director Gordon Kirkessner.

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The Partridge Street Redevelopment Project is being paid for with a $3 million state grant awarded to the city in 2011. The city's match came from money it contributed for acquisition and demolition of properties during the railroad project.

Capello told council the city recently received its $1.76 million reimbursement for that expense.

"This amount represents a 50-50 match from acquisition and demolition expenditures of $3.51 million from the bridge project," she said. "This reimbursement will cover expenditures made thus far by the city on the Partridge Street Project, plus additional expenditures to be made for demolition and site prep."

In other business related to the Partridge Street Project, Capello told council the Bureau of Historic Preservation accepted the documentation presented for exhumation and relocation of the remains of three bodies found in March in a century-old church cemetery on the work site.

Also related to the project, Capello told council city officials met with representatives of Matthew Hockley & Associates to discuss the potential widening of Church Street to give better access to the project site.

In other business Tuesday night, Kirkessner elaborated on a report he gave at Thursday's workshop session regarding PennDOT's plan to replace a bridge that runs underneath East Cumberland Street, just west of Eighth Ave., which connects to the Quittapahilla Creek. The bridge, which extends into South Lebanon Township, will be widened to help relieve flooding in the area, but no extension of the concrete dike is planned, he said.

The road will remain open during construction, which is expected to occur in 2017, Kirkessner said. No city funds will be needed for the project, he added.

Also Tuesday:

• Capello announced that Lebanon's Traffic Safety Committee has decided to conduct a Traffic Control Study at the intersection of Scull and N. 11th streets. Three stop signs will be installed at the intersection this week and remain in place for 90 days, after which the committee will make a recommendation on whether they should be made permanent.

The change is being made at the request of neighborhood couple who claim motorist are speeding along a three block stretch of Scull Street that was widened as part of the Norfolk Southern Railroad overpass project.

• Capello reported that 684 people used Lauther Memorial Water Complex on Memorial Day Monday. That is a much greater attendance than recent years, she said.

• Also Tuesday, Diane Stott, a steering committee member of Age Wave Initiative of Lebanon County gave a brief presentation on the organization's "Take Five to Feel Alive" campaign (for more information visit agewaveinitiative.com) which urges adults to spend five minutes a day exercising.

The Age Wave Initiative is an organization of local community leaders who formed three years ago to prepare for the impact of the aging baby-boomer generation.

"It is going to impact our communities in terms of housing, in terms of transportation, in terms of long-term living and in terms of life-long learning. And those are the four focuses of this Age Wave committee, Stott told council.